Painting Walls a much lighter/duller color, Do I need to use a primer first?

The walls in my room are bright lilac/purple. There are also streaks of a different shade of purple where the old owner tried to do a touch-up but used the wrong color purple. I am painting it a sandy beige. Do i need to prime first?

Painting Walls a much lighter/duller color, Do I need to use a primer first?
Two answers, yes and no!





what quality paint are you using? some better quality paints can "hide" a previous color in one coat.





Using the primer would be your best bet if you are doing a radical color change, especially if you don't want to take a chance of having to do it twice.





Make sure you prepare the surface to be painted, clean the wall with a mixture of trisodium phosphate (TSP) and water. Put the solution on going from the floor to the ceiling and wash it off with clean water for the ceiling to the floor so you make sure you get all the residue off (wear gloves-as this is a chemical solution and can burn unprotected skin)
Reply:Do you know what "kind" of paint is on the wall "Latex or oil"? Is the wall paint shiny or semi shiny(semigloss)?


First, if the walls are dirty - wash them with TSP and water. That will take off the body oils(from your hands)and any other oils. You don't want that on the wall.


When the washing is done and the walls are dry....it needs a sanding with 120-150 g sandpaper.....moreso if the walls are semigloss or gloss. You want to get the flat(no shine look)-or at least alot of sandpaper scratches for best mechanical adhesion possible.(Think of paint like a person climbing a rock face. If the rock face is perfectly smooth there is no place for him(the paint) to grab onto or get his climbing hook into. By sanding the hard surface (old paint)you are making grooves or cracks on the smooth surface that the mountain climbing paint can fill in and grab ahold of. This applies for primer as well as any other paint.


Primer will hang on better to a shiny surface than will the wall paint. It is also the go-between when you don't know the "kind of paint" is on the surface.


Latex sticks to latex and oil based to oil based is a rule of thumb. Primer sticks to both, so when you don't know, prime. Latex primer is for drywall and plaster. Alkyd primer is for wood casings moreso(especially if wood shows under flaking paint.


Primer is also used when the subsurface condition is not perfect(paint has flaked away or has oxidized(like on older outside wood that leaves a chalky residue on your finger as you rub the surface).


Alykd Primer should get a dash 1/2 cup to a gallon paint thinner to thin it out a bit(which makes it climbing hooks that much sharper) and the paint drys faster and harder than straight out of the can. Give 24 hrs to dry. Sand smooth with a light touch followed by the other hand to feel how smooth. Should feel like velvet.


Because of the color extremes, you will have to put on 2 coats of color over the purple. The first coat, you can thin out some 3/4 cup to a gallon of paint without hurting the covering ability of the paint. If you paint the room early in the morn and you have a hot day, perhaps you can put the second coat on later after supper. Otherwise wait a day and put on a closer to undiluted second coat.


Depending how much you paid for the paint(cheap paint give crappy coverage) you may even have to put on a 3rd coat.(another day of drying). In the end, you will be happy with the job.


Do do the brushwork first.
Reply:Some colors cover better than others, beige being on of them. If you use a high quality paint you could finish with two coats of paint only. Buy a gallon of your new color and brush some on the wall to test. Stain blocking primers (water based) tinted to the new wall color would be my recommendation if you were doing the reverse color scheme.



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